Zack Mosley; Creator of ‘Smilin’ Jack’ Comic Strip

Zack Mosley, who mixed humor with adventure in America’s most enduring aviation comic strip, “Smilin’ Jack,” has died at the age of 87.

Mosley, an aviation buff who was honored by organizations ranging from the Air Force to the Civil Air Patrol, was admitted Monday to Martin Memorial Medical Center here and died Tuesday of a heart attack.

Inspired by a mail plane that flew over his boyhood home in Oklahoma, Mosley created a comic strip full of characters based on real people and drawings portraying aircraft in realistic detail.

He worked in restaurants in Chicago while perfecting his drawing ability at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and began working in comics as an assistant artist on “Buck Rogers” and “Skyroads.”

His strip was launched Oct. 1, 1933, as “On the Wing.” It was the story of nervous flying students--Mosley started taking flying lessons in 1932--and took off several months later when the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate changed the title to “Smilin’ Jack.”

The syndicated strip drew its most faithful followers from the generations spanning World War I and World War II. “Smilin’ Jack” appeared in more than 300 newspapers from 1933 to 1973.

In 1943, Universal produced a 13-episode film serial based on the strip that starred Tom Brown.